2020/10/3 - Patch v7.3

v7.3 (aka the "HOW MANY MECHS????" release) has been released to the installer. There's plenty here, mostly mechs, but there's some other new stuff to keep an eye on.

• NEW MECH: The Fireball, a 20 ton insanely fast scout. The Davions and Steiners field it (mostly the Davions).
• NEW MECH: The Thorn, a 20 ton SLDF fire support mech (yes 20 ton LRM mech). Found with ComStar and the Kuritans, and rarely Clans.
• NEW MECH: The Firefly, a 30 ton Star League scout. ComStar and the Clans field it.
• NEW MECH: The Hermes, a 30 ton super fast scout. Mostly ComStar and House Marik field it.
• NEW MECH: The Night Hawk, a 35 ton SLDF pulse laser mech. Fielded by Steiner/Davion/Outworlds/Locals/mercs.
• NEW MECH: The Talon, a 35 ton SLDF mech that's about as good as it can be. Found with Davions and Mariks.
• NEW MECH: The Hermes II, a 40 ton not so fast scout. Most great houses field this.
• NEW MECH: The Sentinel, a 40 ton SLDF "scout" with a UAC/5 for reasons. Found with ComStar and House Kurita/Davion/Steiner.
• NEW MECH: The Whitworth, a 40 ton fire support design. Lots of people field it, Great Houses and Periphery alike.
• NEW MECH: The Wyvern, a 45 ton SLDF city fighter. All the Great Houses field it.
• NEW MECH: The Chameleon, a 50 ton trainer mech with lots of support points. Most great houses field it.
• NEW MECH: The Phoenix, oh look another Age of War mech, 50 tons! Find it with the Rim Collection(!).
• NEW MECH: The Lynx, a 55 ton SLDF energy boat. Found largely in Steiner, Local, and mercenary hands.
• NEW MECH: The Bellerophon, a super-early Age of War 60 mech. Find it with the Steiners.
• NEW MECH: The Battleaxe, another super-early Age of War 70 tonner. Davions field it.
• NEW MECH: The Hector, once more an Age of War 70 tonner. Find it with the Mariks.
• NEW MECH: The Berserker, a 100 ton melee behemoth with a hatchet. Find it with the Steiners.
• NEW MECH: The Scylla, an XL 400 with jumpjets 100 ton Clan assault. Find it with the Clans.
• NEW MECH: The Thunder Hawk, a 100 ton gauss monster. The Steiners field it.
• IN STARTING LISTS: Phoenix (Primitive), Bellerophon (Primitive), Chameleon (Generic), Fireball (Recon, Davion), Hermes (Marik), Hermes II (Liao, Kurita, Mercenary), Sentinel (Davion, Kurita), Thorn (Kurita, Sniper), Whitworth (Sniper, Periphery Generic, Taurian), Wyvern (Magistracy)
• IN HEAVY METAL CRATE: Hermes II, Whitworth, Sentinel

NEW MODEL: The Talos has received a welcome makeover and is lookin' real fine now.

NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Melee has changed, kind of. Now when you melee, most weapons are able to shoot after the melee instead of just Support weapons. Generally, AoE weapons and weapons with a minimum range cannot fire in melee, but everything else can. Go nuts, folks. Rocket punch? AC/20 fist? Go for it. See the FAQ for details.

NEW FUNCTIONALITY: CAC has been updated. With it comes a new weapon panel and side panel UI. Now, mode and ammo are distinct buttons. Further, on the left side panel you can see your ammo selection, mode selection, and weapon details as you mouse over the ammo/mode/weapon.

NEW FUNCTIONALITY (kind of): CleverGirl has been added to BTA. This is an AI improvement mod. It is under active development and may be a little weird for awhile, please let us know how it performs for you. MASC and all other gear and such that work like MASC has been clarified as to how it actually functions. See the FAQ for details, it's a little complicated.

• There's a new Difficulty Menu option: Ronin Prevalence. How many Ronin would you like to see in Hiring Halls? Now you can decide!
• Mines have been updated, they should be a bit more effective now (I think).
• Spawn protection properly updated back to 6 evasion instead of 4.
• The tutorial mission has been updated. Now, if you lose gear or mechs, they will be automatically returned to you for free after the mission. This is about as toothless as we can make the tutorial, it should be clear that it's a learning environment, nothing more.
• Piercing weapons should work again.
• TSM got a small movement nerf, nothing too major.
• Instead of getting reduced minimum range from pilot skills, you instead now get a reduced penalty inside of minimum range (from 8 to 5, then from 5 to 2).

IMPORTANT: v7.3 is an "update" update. Run the installer again to let it just update your files and you're set to go. The installer auto-updates the CAB and injects Modtek for you.

Reminder: This update, and others like it, are made possible by my Patreon supporters. Without their support, updates would come slower and be less impactful. If you feel like being a part of the support for BTA, you can find me here: https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves